Your voice can change the society!

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Your voice can change the society!

I am not a born leader and I used to believe that a single voice can never bring a change in the society. I realized that I was wrong the day I fought to save the trees in my locality.

I belong to a small town of Uttar Pradesh. Like every other student, I too came to Delhi for further studies a few years ago. Initial days were tough and getting comfortable in the new city was not easy for me. But as days passed I made new friends and most of them were like me (non-delhites).

I changed my way of living according to the city. I became more conscious about my looks and personality. I used to dress well like a gentleman and always carried my signature smell of Adiction deodorant. You won’t believe me, but that was the first time I used any deodorant in my life. I got addicted to the Adiction’s strong fragrance because I used to feel confident after wearing it.

I used to roam around with my friends whenever I was free from lectures. We used to go and sit under a few trees near our college. The peace we used to get there can never be imagined.

Once we all were busy with our mid-term examinations, so I did not get a chance to go to our favorite place for around a week. After we were done with our examinations, we made a plan to go out and sit under those trees to relax. We were shocked to see that there were no trees there. We inquired about the trees from the ‘Paanwala’ and he told us that they had been chopped down by the nearby shopkeepers to encroach the area for their personal uses.

My friends were not very disturbed to hear that, but I used to share a bond with those living creatures, so I decided to raise my voice against it. Initially, my friends were not in my favor, they did not want to get into any trouble but I was firm on my decision of raising the hand for good. I knew I have the confidence in me which these people don’t have.

I went to a nearby market and a banner printed saying ‘Save Trees-Save Life” and sat with it at the place where the trees were there till a few days ago.

Seeing me suffer alone in the scorching heat for the trees, a few of my friends joined me too. We all silently protested there for the next one week. We used to go there from the morning till evening daily. Many other college students and residents of the nearby societies also joined us for this good cause. Finally, few local politicians intervened. They helped me register a complaint against those shopkeepers. Finally, due to intense pressure, the shopkeepers had to vacate the land and plant trees there again.

It took us the next few months to make that place full of greenery again and even more beautiful than it was earlier.

Now when someone asks me that whether a single voice can bring a change? I smile and nod ‘Yes’